Lynne Harty
Sara Gruen is the author of five novels, including Ape House, Water for Elephants – a New York Times bestseller that was turned into a film of the same name – and At the Water's Edge, which was published last month.
Her books have sold more than 10 million copies around the world and been translated into more than 40 languages. Born in British Columbia, Gruen lives with her family in North Carolina.
Would you rather have the ability to be invisible or time travel, and why?
Time travel, no question. Of course I see the appeal of invisibility for a novelist – oh, to be a fly on some walls! But it feels a little dirty to listen in on the living. I think I would waste it, professionally speaking, and use it to hide out and knit undisturbed. You would just see phantom needles clicking away. … Time travel would let me eavesdrop on those long dead – listen in on history. It feels cleaner, somehow, and as a person who spends a lot of time doing research on other times and places, what a gift that would be! The funny thing is, I would bet anything that if I went to, say, 15th-century London and then accurately described the smells I had smelled, I would get letters explaining why I was wrong. People have such strong affinities for certain periods and their imaginations make the places truly live. I know I am this way about certain places and times. It would be delicious to be in the know in a real, concrete way. I would have loved to be able to go to the Scotland that I heard about in all the interviews I did. And I would have loved to visit the castle that is such an important setting in the book when it was being built, when it was in its prime.
What's the best advice you've ever received?
Advice about writing? Or life? The best life advice I ever got came from a teacher. He told me to treat my education like a treasure that has been hidden from you. Don't expect to be spoon-fed knowledge, and seek out understanding like it is your calling – or your lover. Learn, learn and never stop learning. And I suppose this is the best advice to have about writing as well. Good novels come from an understanding of people and the world, so the more you have in your head and your heart, the bigger the world of your novels will be.
What's a book every 10-year-old should read, and why?
Anything by Roald Dahl, for his boundless imagination. His books for kids are so wonderfully written, and so subversive and funny and sly. I also love his short stories for adults.
Which book do you think is under-appreciated?
It's ridiculous to say that a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize is under-appreciated, but Gilead by Marilynne Robinson is an incandescent, near-perfect novel, and I'm always shocked at how few people have read it. Even at literary functions, I rarely find someone who has cracked it – or even heard of it.
Why did you write your new book?
I was trying not to write a book, actually! I was procrastinating, a favourite pastime of every novelist I know, and I link-followed my way across cyberspace to a recently declassified letter written in 1938 by a high-level Scotland Yard official. He was anxious about the recent influx of big-game hunters determined to kill or capture the Loch Ness Monster, and doubted the police's ability to protect Nessie. It was obvious that he believed absolutely that the monster existed, and that he was writing to an audience equally devoid of doubt. I've been fascinated by the Loch Ness Monster since I was 12, which is when I first visited Urquhart Castle, so that first link led me deeper and down the Nessie rabbit hole, and now here we are.